Following is the Full text of the Indian

President's (A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM ) address

on the eve of Teachers' Day.

Dear listeners of All India Radio and teachers, my greetings to all of

you.

I am talking to you on the special occasion of Teachers' Day. On

this day, we gratefully remember the great educationist Dr
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, whose dream was that "Teachers
should be the best minds in the country". Hence, Teachers' Day is
very important for all our people, for our students and even for all
the parents, as the teachers lay the foundation for creating
enlightened citizens for the nation. On this day, I would like to recall
three teachers who helped me in shaping my life.

To begin with I am going to talk to you about my father Janab Avul

Pakir Jainulabdeen, as a teacher. My father taught me a great
lesson when I was a young boy. What was that lesson? It was just
after India got Independence. At that time Panchayat board
elections took place at Rameswaram. My father was elected
Panchayat Board member and on the same day he was also
elected the president of the Rameswaram Panchayat Board.
Rameswaram Island was a beautiful place with 30,000 populations.
At that time they elected my father as Panchayat Board president
not because he belonged to a particular religion or a particular
caste or spoke a particular language or for his economic status. He
was elected only on the basis of his nobility of mind and for being a
good human being. Dear listeners, I would like to narrate one
incident that took place on the day he was elected president of the
Panchayat Board.

I was at that time studying in school. Those days we did not have
electricity and we used to study under ration kerosene lamps. I was
reading the lessons loudly and I heard a knock at the door. We
never used to lock the door in Rameswaram in those days.
Somebody opened the door, came in and asked me where my
father was? I told him that father had gone for the evening namaz.
Then he said, I have brought something for him, can I keep it here?
Since my father had gone for namaz, I shouted for my mother to
get her permission to receive the item. Since she was also on the
amaz there was no response. I asked the person to leave the item
on the cot. After that I continued my studies.

I used to learn by reading aloud in my younger days. I was reading

loud and fully concentrating on my studies. At that time my father
came in and saw a tambalum kept in the cot. He asked me "What
is this? Who has given that?" I told him, "Somebody came and has
kept this for you". He opened the cover of the tambalum and found
there was a costly dhoti, angawastram, some fruits and some
sweets and he could see the slip that the person had left behind. I
was the youngest child of my father, he really loved me and I also
loved him a lot. He was upset at the sight of the tambalum and
gifts.

That was the first time I saw him very angry and also that was the
first time I had got a thorough beating from him. I got frightened
and started weeping. My mother embraced and consoled me. Then
my father came and touched my shoulder lovingly with affection
and advised me not to receive any gift without his permission. He
quoted an Islamic Hadith, which states that, "When the Almighty
appoints a person to a position, He takes care of his provision. If a
person takes anything beyond that, it is an illegal gain." Then he
told me that it is not a good habit. A gift is always accompanied by
some purpose and a gift is a dangerous thing. It is like touching a
snake and getting the poison in turn. This lesson stands out always
in my mind even when I am in my seventies. This incident, taught
me a very valuable lesson for my life. It is deeply embedded in my
mind.

I would like also to mention the writings in Manu Smriti which states
that "By accepting gifts the divine light in the person gets
extinguished". Manu warns every individual against accepting gifts
for the reason that it places the acceptor under an obligation in
favour of the person who gave the gift and ultimately it results in
making a person to do things which are not permitted according to
law.
I am sharing this thought, with all of you, particularly the young
ones, do not be carried away by any gift which comes with a
purpose and through which one loses his personality greatly. Do
you think, you can follow this in your life? I will be very happy if you
can practice this sincerely.

When I think of my second teacher, I am reminded of my childhood

days when I was studying in 8th class at the age of 13. I had a
teacher, Shri Siva Subramania Iyer. He was one of the very good
teachers in our school. All of us loved to attend his class and hear
him. One day he was teaching about a bird's flight. He drew a
diagram of a bird on the blackboard depicting the wings, tail and
the body structure with the head. He explained how birds create
the lift and fly. He also explained to us how they change direction
while flying. For nearly 25 minutes he gave the lecture with various
information such as lift, drag, how the birds fly in a formation of 10,
20 or 30. At the end of the class, he wanted to know whether we
understood how birds fly. I said, I did not understand. When I said
this, the teacher asked the other students whether they understood
or not. Many students said that they also did not understand. He
did not get upset by our response since he was a committed
teacher.

Our teacher said that he would take all of us to the sea shore. That
evening the whole class was at the sea shore of Rameswaram. We
enjoyed the roaring sea waves knocking at the sandy hills in the
pleasant evening. Birds were flying with sweet chirping voice. He
showed the sea birds in formations of 10 to 20 numbers. We saw
the marvellous formations of birds with a purpose and we were all
amazed. He showed us the birds and asked us to see that when
the birds fly, what they looked like. We saw the wings flapping. He
asked us to look at the tail portion with the combination of flapping
wings and twisting tail. We noticed closely and found that the birds
in that condition flew in the direction they desired. Then he asked
us a question, "Where the engine is and how it is powered"?
The bird is powered by its own life and the motivation of what it
wants. All these things were explained to us within fifteen minutes.
We all understood the dynamics from this practical example. How
nice it was. Our teacher was a great teacher; he could give us a
theoretical lesson coupled with a live practical example available in
nature. This is real teaching. I am sure many of the teachers in
schools and colleges will follow this example.

For me, it was not merely an understanding of how a bird flies. The
bird's flight entered into me and created a special feeling. From
that evening, I thought that my future study has to be with
reference to flight and flight systems. I am saying this because my
teacher's teaching and the event that I witnessed decided my
future career.Then one evening after the classes, I asked the
teacher, "Sir, please tell me, how to progress further in learning all
about flight." He patiently explained to me that I should complete
8th class, and then go to high school, and then I should go to
engineering college

that may lead to education on flight. If I complete all my education

with excellence, I might do something connected with flight
sciences. This advice and the bird flying exercise given by my
teacher, really gave me a goal and a mission for my life. When I
went to college, I took physics. When I went to engineering in
Madras Institute of Technology, I took aeronautical engineering.

Thus my life was transformed as a rocket engineer, aerospace

engineer and technologist. That one incident of my teacher
teaching the lesson, showing the visual live example proved to be
a turning point in my life which eventually shaped my profession.

A student during his school life upto 10+2 spends 25,000 hours in
the school campus. His life is, more influenced by the teachers and
the school environment. Therefore, the school must have the best
of teachers with ability to, teach and love teaching and build moral
qualities. Teachers should become role models. Similarly, the
student must be alert to build himself with best of qualities and to
get ignited with a vision for his or her future life.
I would like to share with you another experience with my teacher
Prof. Satish Dhawan. First, I worked in Delhi with the Ministry of
Defence. Later I joined the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) in 1958 at the Aeronautical Development
Establishment at Bangalore. There with the advice of the Director, I
took up the development of hovercraft. Hovercraft design needed
the development of a ducted contra-rotating propeller for creating a
smooth flow balancing the torques. I did not know how to design a
contra-rotating propeller though I knew how to design a
conventional propeller. Some of my friends told me that I could
approach Prof. Satish Dhawan of the Indian Institute of Science,
who was well known for his aeronautical research, for help.

I took permission from my Director Dr Mediratta and went to Prof

Dhawan who was sitting in a small room in the Indian Institute of
Science with a lot of books in the background and a blackboard on
the wall. Prof Dhawan asked me what the problem was that I
wanted to discuss. I explained the problem.. He told me that it was
really a challenging task and he would teach me the design if I
attended his classes in IISc between 2 pm to 3 pm on all Saturdays
for the next six weeks.

He was a visionary teacher. He prepared the schedule for the

entire course and wrote it on the black board. He also gave me the
reference material and books I should read before I start attending
the course. I considered, this as a great opportunity and I started
attending the discussion and started meeting him regularly. Before
commencing each meeting, he would ask critical questions and
assess my understanding of the subject. That was for the first time
that I realized how a good teacher prepares himself for teaching
with meticulous planning and prepares the student for acquisition
of knowledge. This process continued for the next six weeks. I got
the capability for designing the contra-rotating propeller. Prof
Dhawan told me that I was ready for developing the contra-rotating
propeller for a given hovercraft configuration. That was the time I
realized that Prof Dhawan was not only a teacher but also a
fantastic development engineer of aeronautical systems.
Later during the critical phases of testing, Prof Dhawan was with
me to witness the test and find solutions to the problems. After
reaching the smooth test phase, the contra-rotating propeller went
through 50 hours of continuous testing. Prof Dhawan witnessed the
test himself and congratulated me. That was a great day for me
when I saw the contra rotating propeller designed by my team
performing to the mission requirement in the hovercraft. However,
at that time, I did not realize that Prof Dhawan would become
chairman, ISRO and that I would get the opportunity to work with
him as a project director in the development of the satellite launch
vehicle SLV-3 for injecting the Rohini satellite into the orbit. Nature
has its own way to link the student's dream and real life later.

This was the first design in my career which gave me the

confidence to design many complex aerospace systems in future.
The hovercraft could fly just above the ground level carrying two
passengers. I was the first pilot for this hovercraft and I could
control and maneuver the vehicle in any direction. Through this
project I learnt the techniques of designing and developing the
contra-rotating propeller. Above all, I learnt that in a project,
problems will always crop up; we should not allow problems to be
our masters but we should defeat the problems. Then successes
will sparkle.

The three teachers in my life; what did they give me? In an

integrated way it can be said, that any enlightened human being
can be created by three unique characteristics. One is moral value
system. That I got from my father the hard way. Secondly, the
teacher becoming a role model. Not only does the student learn,
but the teacher shapes his life with great dreams and aims. Finally,
the education and learning process has to culminate in the creation
of professional capability leading to confidence and will power to
make a design, to make a product, to make a system, bravely
combating many problems. What a fortune and blessing I had from
my three teachers.

Among the listeners, there may be many parents, many teachers

and a large number of students. Every one of us in this planet
creates a page in human history irrespective of who he/she is. I
realize my experience is a small dot in human life, but that dot has
a life and light. This light, let it light many lamps.
My best wishes to all of you on this occasion of Teachers' Day.
Thank you.